Moe Wagner led Germany in PPG, RBPG
While Germany only finished 7th in the U-20 FIBA European Championship, Moe Wagner had 32 points in their win over Iceland, and averaged 16.1 pts, 5.3 rbs to lead the team. After a slow start he had 5 straight games scoring in double figures.
May he continue his excellent play for U-M. (And may the refs stop hating the Deutsch.)
I was following the updates from Michigan bball. Seems strange that his production was pretty low, this is definitely a step down in competition from B1G play. Hopefully it was just a result of not playing as many minutes.
Not sure it's that much of a step down in competition. These are national U-20 teams. Most European countries can put together a squad of pretty good players aged 18-20.
I would argue that his production was not low. He had a couple rough games to start out but then really turned it on at the end. As the topic says, he was the leading rebounder and scorer. European teams also play very deep rotations. Mo only got 22 minutes in some games.
32 points in only 20 minutes vs Iceland.
He probably wouldn't have been so effective if Wolf Stansson was coaching the other team.
Mo is a beast. Out point guards will be strong and fast. Matthews will surprise and dazzle. If Robinson can regain his shot and Teske/Davis can board - UM will be a contender this year....just need a couple of coaches to help Beilein
Couple of defections from last year's starting lineup, including a borderline dominant point guard. Questions whether Beilein can this elite level of play into another year. MSU practically being handed the Big Ten title in the preseason. A top-heavy non-conference with a few heavyhitting contenders on it. Could very well see Beilein's best work yet this year
I agree 100%. Although to be fair my basketball sense must be off. I was convinced we would be elite with Caris coming back for his senior year. I have always been a huge Beilein fanboy, but even I almost gave up on him this past year. I'm fired up about Matthews, but I was also pretty pumped when we got Laval Lucas-Perry.
I like it.
Of course, the starting point was quite a bit higher in 2013 and that team had much better returning depth to replace the departed...although, we have two potential All-conference newbies in terms of transfers next year. Need a big to step up on defense and we could be good.
The dude is going to have a monster year, but an effective Mathews and good guard play is going to be a requirement for us to be a good team.
Simmons and MAAR will provide great guard play and that the Mathews/Robinson combo will be effective or better on the wing.
Biggest concern by far is interior defense. I think the difference between being a bubble team and a team that can make a run is going to depend on Teske or Davis being good enough to be a plus defender while not hurting the offense for 20-30 min a game (pushing Mo to the 4 for 10-20 min).